After his death in 1912, Daniel Burnham, the legendary Chicago architect, was celebrated as much for his famous quote as for his high-profile planning projects.
“Make no little plans,” Burnham said. “They have no magic to stir men’s blood, and probably will not themselves be realized.”
When I think of what U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui recently pulled off for her local congressional district, the more Burnham’s quote resonates.
“Make big plans,” he went on. “Aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram, once recorded, will never die, but, long after we are gone, will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency.”
Burnham understood the impact of big ideas. His landmark plan to beautify Chicago’s lakefront was published in 1909 and took decades to carry out. It’s doubtful Matsui had Chicago in mind when she secured $3.15 million in federal seed money toward decking about two blocks of Interstate 5 with a park connecting Downtown to the Old Sacramento riverfront.
But Matsui is singing from Burnham’s hymn book.
It could take 50 times more than $3.15 million to make the freeway park a reality. But now that people recognize the damage caused more than 60 years ago when I-5 was rammed through the old West End, the decking idea is alive again.
Few civic undertakings obliterate neighborhoods more than jamming a freeway through them. The I-5 deck would heal some of those wounds.
A deck could provide the impetus for greater connection to the riverfront, something the Downtown Sacramento Partnership and others have advocated for years.
“The project would build a new deck park over a stretch of Interstate 5, helping repair a divide that has long separated downtown from the waterfront,” a statement from Matsui’s office says.
“Once complete, the proposed 4-acre park would create a safer and more inviting connection for pedestrians, expand access to the Sacramento River, add new green space and support future infill development in the heart of the city.”
Michael Ault, executive director of the Downtown Partnership, called the project “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bridge that divide, reclaiming space for people, restoring access to the water and creating a signature civic destination that reflects the vitality and promise of our Capital Region.”
I saw my first freeway park a few years ago in Seattle, where civic-minded activists pushed through a downtown improvement bond. Today several blocks of Seattle’s I-5 are a nice, leafy oasis in the heart of the city.
It took Seattle just 10 years after the freeway opened to build Freeway Park, the world’s first park on top of a freeway but not the last.
Now it’s Sacramento’s turn to step up. We have two impressive rivers and have never done enough to leverage them as attractions.
There are plenty of examples. Consider San Antonio, which turned part of the meandering San Antonio River into Riverwalk, an arts, culture and dining attraction for tourists and locals.
It would probably take a hefty bond to raise enough money to turn Matsui’s small grant into a freeway park. But if that big idea is paired with other impactful urban improvements and has the right influencers in support, voters might go for it.
In the spirit of Burnham’s call for big plans, I hope Sacramento’s vision for a freeway park—along with a waterfront connected to daily life in the city’s core—finally becomes an idea worth getting serious about.
Gary Delsohn can be reached at gdelsohn@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
